July 31st 06, 04:43 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.student
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PED Scared of mid-airs
Thanks a lot, Jose and Jim; much appreciated 
Ramapriya
Jose wrote:
Er... what do you mean by "keep a lookout for traffic under IFR"?
Lookout on the radar, surely??
Nope. Traffic out the window.
In brief, "IFR" is a set of rules to fly by, which permits flying in the
clouds. "IMC" means weather in which one cannot see out the window.
Only IFR airplanes can fly in IMC.
"VMC" means weather in which you =can= see out the window. In that kind
of weather, you can still fly IFR (in fact, if you are in and out of
clouds, you will be in VMC and then in IMC and then back in VMC...).
However, other airplanes may be flying VFR (which is a different set of
rules to fly by). Under VFR (rules), the pilots look out the window and
avoid each other, since they can see.
The upshot is that under IFR (rules), air traffic controllers separate
other IFR traffic from you. They do not separate VFR traffic from you.
If you are in IMC (i.e. clouds) and can't see, there should be no VFR
traffic for you to avoid. If you are in VMC, then (like all other
pilots), you need to look out the window. But, since it's VMC, you can.
Jose
--
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